Plasma processing apparatuses are used for processes including plasma etching, physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), ion implantation, and resist removal.
Photoresist materials are used in plasma processing operations to pattern materials. Commercial photoresists are blends of polymeric and other organic and inorganic materials. A photoresist is applied onto a substrate, and radiation is passed through a patterned mask to transfer the pattern into the resist layer. The two broad classifications of photoresist are negative-working resist and positive-working resist, which produce negative and positive images, respectively. After being developed, a pattern exists in the photoresist. The patterned photoresist can be used to define features in substrates by etching, as well as to deposit materials onto, or implant materials into, substrates. Commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,968,374, 6,362,110 and 6,692,649, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference, disclose plasma photoresist stripping techniques.